Artist Statement

I am inspired by the landscape of the Texas coastal plain. The lush trees harboring deep pockets of cooling shade beneath them and the numerous ponds with vibrant flora and curious small life forms provide endless sources of visual interest. I am captivated by the reflections in the ponds and still waters here. Sometimes the reflections are crisp and static, but the occasional coastal breeze induces ripples that fragment the reflections or cut across them entirely. The flora are frequently vibrant in color, and floating on a dark silky pond, they give the impression of an abstract painting by Kandinsky or Miro - just little rounded shapes floating in the ether.

The landscape of the Texas Hill Country also inspires me, but the elements here are somewhat different. There are also magnificent trees, but of different shapes and sizes, and there are plenty of ponds, rivers, and streams to provide wonder. Here the water is probably moving, either rapidly rushing its way downstream, leaving little bubble trails behind, or slowly meandering towards a deep lake somewhere. Usually, that moving water is swirling around rocks, drawing lines of highlight and wavering reflections, or cascading over rocks and creating great splashes of whiteness.

I take solitary walks in the woodlands around Houston, where I live, and on the occasional visit to the Hill Country. These walks are an essential spiritual practice. I see the trees, water and the rocks, but there is always something else here - something intangible and mysterious and that cannot be seen. I sense it in the water, and I feel it emanate from the rocks. I hear it as a whisper when the wind rustles through the trees. I feel its caress, and I am calmed by it.